condensed theology lecture 18

8/6/2019 Condensed Theology Lecture 18

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Condensed Theology

A Primer in Systematic Theology


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Theology Proper:

The Doctrine of God

What does the Bible teach about

God?


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Where Were Going

Twelve lectures covering four subjects:

The existence of God

The attributes of God God as Trinity

Gods works of creation & providence


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The Doctrine of Creation


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The Doctrine of Creation: Defined

For his own glory, the Triune God createdall things out of nothing.

For the purposes of this lecture, we willparse this definition in the following order:

The Triune God created all things

For his own glory

Out of nothing


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The Triune God Created All Things:

Summary Texts Gen 1:1: In the beginning God created the

heavens and the earth.

Isa 45:18: For thus says the LORD, who created

the heavens (He is the God who formed theearth and made it, He established it and did notcreate it a waste place, but formed it to beinhabited), "I am the LORD, and there is noneelse.

John 1:3: All things came into being throughHim, and apart from Him nothing came intobeing that has come into being.


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The Activity of the Godhead To say that the Triune God created all

things is a redundant way of referring to

God, since he is, by his very nature, triune; Nevertheless, the Bible is explicit that

each member of the Trinity was involved inthe creation.


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The Activity of the Godhead The Father creates through the Son

1 Cor 8:5-6: For even if there are so-called godswhether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are

many gods and many lords, yet for us there is but oneGod, the Father, from whom are all things and weexist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whomare all things, and we exist through Him.

Heb 1:2: in these last days has spoken to us in His

Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, throughwhom also He made the world.


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The Activity of the Godhead The Spirit is involved in creation as well, though

his specific role is unclear.

Gen 1:2: The earth was formless and void, and

darkness was over the surface of the deep, and theSpirit of God was moving over the surface of thewaters.

Job 33:4: The Spirit of God has made me, And thebreath of the Almighty gives me life.

Ps 104:30: You send forth Your Spirit, they arecreated; And You renew the face of the ground.


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All Things Defined The Triune God has created the physical

universe, visible and invisible, includinghumanity

Exod 20:11: For in six days the LORD made theheavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them,and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORDblessed the sabbath day and made it holy.

2 Kgs 19:15: Hezekiah prayed before the LORD and

said, O LORD, the God of Israel, who are enthronedabove the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, ofall the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heavenand earth.


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universe, visible and invisible, includinghumanity

Acts 4:24: And when they heard this, they lifted theirvoices to God with one accord and said, O Lord, it isYou who MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTHAND THE SEA, AND ALL THAT IS IN THEM.

Acts 17:24: The God who made the world and allthings in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth,does not dwell in temples made with hands.


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universe, visible and invisible, includinghumanityGen 1:27: God created man in His own image, in the

image of God He created him; male and female Hecreated them.

Gen 2:7, 21-22: Then the LORD God formed man ofdust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrilsthe breath of life; and man became a living being.21

So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall uponthe man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribsand closed up the flesh at that place. The LORD Godfashioned into a woman the rib which He had takenfrom the man, and brought her to the man.


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All Things Defined The Triune God has created the spiritual

universe as wellNeh 9:6: You alone are the LORD. You have made

the heavens, The heaven of heavens with all theirhost, The earth and all that is on it, The seas and allthat is in them. You give life to all of them And theheavenly host bows down before You.

Col 1:16: For by Him all things were created, both inthe heavens and on earth, visible and invisible,whether thrones or dominions or rulers orauthoritiesall things have been created through Himand for Him.


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What God Made Is Good Gen 1:31: God saw all that He had made, and

behold, it was very good. And there was eveningand there was morning, the sixth day.

See also Gen 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, & 25.

1 Tim 6:17: Instruct those who are rich in thispresent world not to be conceited or to fix theirhope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God,

who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.


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What God Made Is Good 1 Tim 4:1-5: But the Spirit explicitly says that in later

times some will fall away from the faith, paying attentionto deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means ofthe hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as

with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage andadvocate abstaining from foods which God has createdto be gratefully shared in by those who believe and knowthe truth. For everything created by God is good, andnothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for

it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.


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For His Own Glory


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For His Own Glory:

Summary Texts Ps 19:1-4a: The heavens are telling of the glory

of God; And their expanse is declaring the workof His hands. Day to day pours forth speech,

And night to night reveals knowledge. There isno speech, nor are there words; Their voice isnot heard. Their line has gone out through all theearth, And their utterances to the end of theworld.

Isa 6:3: And one called out to another and said,"Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, Thewhole earth is full of His glory."


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For His Own Glory:

Summary Texts Rom 1:20: For since the creation of the world

His invisible attributes, His eternal power anddivine nature, have been clearly seen, being

understood through what has been made, sothat they are without excuse.

Rev 4:11: Worthy are You, our Lord and ourGod, to receive glory and honor and power; for

You created all things, and because of Your willthey existed, and were created.


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For His Own Glory: Not of

Necessity, but according to His Will Acts 17:24-25, 28: The God who made

the world and all things in it, since He isLord of heaven and earth, does not dwell

in temples made with hands; nor is Heserved by human hands, as though Heneeded anything, since He Himself givesto all people life and breath and allthings.28for in Him we live and move and

exist, as even some of your own poetshave said, 'For we also are His children.'


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Necessity, but according to His Will Creation exists by the mere pleasure of

GodPsalm 115:1-8: Not to us, O LORD, not to us, But to

Your name give glory Because of Yourlovingkindness, because of Your truth. Why shouldthe nations say, "Where, now, is their God? But ourGod is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.Their idols are silver and gold, The work of man'shands. They have mouths, but they cannot speak;They have eyes, but they cannot see; They haveears, but they cannot hear; They have noses, but theycannot smell; They have hands, but they cannot feel;They have feet, but they cannot walk; They cannotmake a sound with their throat.


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Necessity, but according to His Will Augustine has noted that if someone

should ask, Why did God will the

creation? he is asking for somethingthat is greater than the will of God,but nothing greater can be found.


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For His Own Glory:

Through the Church Creation and redemption are clearly related to

one another in this regard; creation glorifies himin redemption.

Eph 3:9-10: and to bring to light what is theadministration of the mystery which for ages hasbeen hidden in God who created all things; sothat the manifold wisdom of God might now bemade known through the church to the rulersand the authorities in the heavenly places.

Creation is the theater for Gods glory inredemption.


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Out of Nothing

Creatio ex nihilo


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Out of Nothing

The phrase out of nothing (Latin: exnihilo) is not found in Scripture;

Yet it accurately and conciselycommunicates what the Bible teaches.

Heb 11:3: By faith we understand that theworlds were prepared by the word of God, so

that what is seen was not made out of thingswhich are visible.


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Out of Nothing

The phrase has been used in the history ofChristian theology in order to distinguishthe Christian doctrine of creation from itserroneous competitors.


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Out of Nothing: Anti-Materialism

To say that the Triune God created all things outof nothing stands in sharp contrast withmaterialism,

Which suggests that matter and God are eternal;that matter, like God, has always existed.

Such a teaching threatens Gods independenceand sovereignty because it posits a co-eternal

entity (matter) that does not have God as itsorigin.


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Science and the Doctrine of

Creation No discussion of the doctrine of creation

would be complete without a word aboutits relationship with science.

When we speak about science and thedoctrine of creation, we are addressingwhat are theologically referred to as

general and special revelation.


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Creation General revelation is that unveiling of

Gods identity and Gods truth throughwhat has been made and the products ofhis creation

Special revelation is that unveiling ofGods identity and Gods truth through his

word (written and oral) and ultimatelythrough Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word.


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Creation Science and the discoveries of science are

part of Gods general revelation

What the Bible teaches about creation ispart of Gods special (written) revelation.

This being the case, we may draw thefollowing conclusions about science and

the doctrine of creation:


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Creation: Mutually Informative In order to understand properly the special

revelation we need to understand properlygeneral revelation.

A simple example would be that we needto know the languages in which the Biblehas been written (general revelation) in

order to understand the Bible (specialrevelation).


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Creation: Mutually Informative In order to understand properly the special

revelation we need to understand properlygeneral revelation.

A more complex way of putting this is that weneed the Bible to help us understand thecreation and we need the creation to help usunderstand the Bible.

Take, for example, the idea of a solar system,the notion that the earth revolves around the sunand not vice versa.


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Creation: Heliocentricity Until the discoveries of Copernicus (1473-

1543) in the 16th century, the churchbelieved that the sun revolved around theearth and used the Bible to prove its point.

And when I say the church, I meanProtestants as well.


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Creation: Heliocentricity Lutherreferred to Copernicus as an

upstart astrologer and as a fool [who]wishes to reverse the entire science ofastronomy; but sacred Scripture tells usthat Joshua commanded the sun to standstill, and not the earth.


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Creation: Heliocentricity In this case, the churchs interpretation of

Scripture needed to be adjusted in order toaccount for the revolutionary discovery ofCopernicus;

We read special revelation wrongly andneeded general revelation to correct our

course. Of course, the opposite is true as well.


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Creation We will not understand general revelation

aright without being grounded in specialrevelation.

For example, on the basis of whatScripture teaches we can say thatnaturalism is an erroneous worldview; for itbegins with the notion that there is no God

and from there explains the existence ofcreation.


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Creation Now then, since general and special

revelation are mutually informative, weneed to be cautious not only aboutscientific discoveries, but also about ourinterpretation of Scripture as it relates tothe physical world.

One such caution relates to the age of theearth.


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Creation: The Age of the Earth There are interpretive options that can

account for the scientific consensus thatthe earth is 4.5 billion years old.

In principle, this is not a bad procedure (toallow scientific discoveries to inform ourinterpretation of Scripture), as we haveseen with heliocentricity.

Nevertheless, caution must be exercisedon both sides of the argument.


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Creation The Reformation Study Bibles note on Genesis 1reflects this kind of caution:

Reformed scholars have proposed severalinterpretations of the creative day. Some view these as

literal, sequential, 24-hour days. This interpretationusually entails the view that the earth is relatively young(c. 10,000 years old or less). Other scholars, noting thatthe Hebrew word for day (yom) can refer to periods oftime (e.g., 2:4), have proposed the day-age theory, that

the creative days refer to extended ages or epochs oftime. Still others suggest that literal, 24-hour days areintended, but that these days were separated byextended periods of time.


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Creation Finally, some scholars argue that the days of

creation constitute a literary frameworkdesignedto teach that God alone is the creator of an orderly

universe, and to call upon human beings made inthe image of the creator God to reflect Godscreative activity in their own pattern of labor.Thisframework hypothesis views the days of creation asGods gracious accommodation to the limitations of

human knowledgean expression of the infiniteCreators work in terms understandable to finite andfrail human beings.


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Creation This last group of scholars observes that

the universe gives the appearance of greatantiquity, that the phrase morning andevening seems inconsistent with the day-age theory, and that the notion ofintervening ages between isolated 24-hour

days is not apparent from the text.


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Practical Implications of the

Doctrine of Creation


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Practical Implications: The

Creator/Creature Distinction Because God is the maker of heaven and earth,

and we are not, the doctrine of creation placesus in our proper relation to God

Gen 14:19: He blessed him and said, Blessed beAbram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven andearth.

1 Chron 29:11: Yours, O LORD, is the greatness andthe power and the glory and the victory and themajesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens andthe earth; Yours is the dominion, O LORD, and Youexalt Yourself as head over all.


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Practical Implications:

The Value of Creation Because everything he has made belongs

to him; he has authority over all he hasmade; the world is Gods and not the

devils. Satan only rules with Godspermission. This does not mean that the world is not

fallen.

But there is a vast difference between afallen, corrupted creation and an intrinsicallyevil creation.


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Practical Implications:

The Value of Creation This means that the creation (including man) hasintrinsic value and goodness, which, though radicallycorrupted by our fall into sin; nevertheless, persistsin the universe.

Since everything created by God is good, (1 Tim4:4), it is to be honored, respected, affirmed, andeven enjoyed. Such enjoyment is, in fact, part ofGods purpose for creation.

Ps 104:14-15: He causes the grass to grow for the cattle,And vegetation for the labor of man, So that he may bringforth food from the earth, And wine which makes mansheart glad, So that he may make his face glisten with oil,And food which sustains man's heart.


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Practical Value of the Doctrine of

Creation: The Majesty of God It highlights the greatness, majesty,

wisdom, goodness, and love of God

See Job 37


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Creation: The Faithfulness of God It strengthens our faith, confirms trust in

God, and brings comfort in sufferingPs 65:5-6: By awesome deeds You answer

us in righteousness, O God of our salvation,You who are the trust of all the ends of theearth and of the farthest sea; Who establishesthe mountains by His strength, Being girdedwith might.

Ps 121:2: My help comes from the LORD,Who made heaven and earth.


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Creation: The Faithfulness of God It strengthens our faith, confirms trust in God,and brings comfort in suffering Isa 40:28-31: Do you not know? Have you not heard?

The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of theends of the earth Does not become weary or tired.His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength tothe weary, And to him who lacks might He increasespower. Though youths grow weary and tired, Andvigorous young men stumble badly, Yet those who

wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They willmount up with wings like eagles, They will run and notget tired, They will walk and not become weary.


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Creation: Humility It engenders humility and meekness and makesus sense our smallness and insignificancebefore God

Job 38:4-5: Where were you when I laid thefoundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you haveunderstanding, Who set its measurements? Sinceyou know. Or who stretched the line on it?

Isa 45:9: Woe to the one who quarrels with hisMakerAn earthenware vessel among the vessels ofearth! Will the clay say to the potter, 'What are youdoing?' Or the thing you are making say, 'He has nohands '?


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Creation: Praise It inspires praise and thanksgiving

Ps 148:5: Let them praise the name of theLORD, For He commanded and they were

created.

Rev 14:7: and he said with a loud voice,Fear God, and give Him glory, because thehour of His judgment has come; worship Him

who made the heaven and the earth and seaand springs of waters.


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Creation: Praise It inspires praise and thanksgiving

Hymn 111: This Is My Fathers World

condensed theology lecture 18

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